Group pushes Vineland for rent control

Dec. 9, 2011

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VINELAND — A handful of residents are calling for City Council to consider rent control here.

The group, all residents of mobile home parks in Vineland, contends their rent is rising too much too fast and the city should step in to help stabilize rental increases.

They have spoken at City Council meetings on a few occasions, urging officials to consider a system that would restrict how much housing rental rates rise year to year.

Not seeing the council take action, Max Schiller, a six-year Vineland Hills resident, decided to take another road: He has organized a petition drive, urging renters to sign in support of rent control.

It’s an initiative forged by another mobile home resident, Joe Ready of Berryman’s Branch, who died before he could see the effort through.

“He started this and we’d like to finish this,” Schiller said.

Schiller, who pays $480 a month for a single-wide trailer at the park off North East Boulevard, has a handful of supporters with the same goal. But some admit they need more information about rent control.

Michael Roccia, who pays $543 per month at Berryman’s Branch, feels they should do their homework to see what it would take to put it into effect here, but thinks rent control could keep property owners from raising rent beyond a certain level. In his experience, it’s too difficult to get an answer from mobile home park operators about why lot rent is going up.

“It was whatever cost of living was,” he said. “Now it’s whatever they feel, like I guess. At that rate, in eight more years, we’ll be priced out of the market.”

Schiller has been going door-to-door drumming up support. Ready had obtained signatures hoping to get a referendum question on an election ballot, but when Schiller took over, he learned that wouldn’t be enough.

City Clerk Keith Petrosky explained residents have the power of referendum under the Faulkner Act, the form of government Vineland follows, but getting a ballot question is a complex process.

A group looking to invoke change first must create a committee of petitioners to circulate and file the initial petition, Petrosky said. Then they collect signatures from residents who are registered voters.

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Petrosky said how many signatures a petition receives determines if and when a referendum question comes before voters:

An ordinance would be drawn up and put on the ballot as a referendum question in a special election held at the municipality’s expense if the number of signatures on the petition equals at least 15 percent of the total votes cast in the city in the last election for General Assembly. In Vineland’s case, at least 2,755 signatures would be needed for a special election, Petrosky said.

If the committee fails to collect 15 percent, but has at least 10 percent (1,836 signatures), a referendum instead would be held at the next general or municipal election.

The City Council has an opportunity to avoid a referendum by approving the ordinance. But if it rejects the ordinance, the voters decide, Petrosky said. If the majority of voters favor the ordinance, it becomes valid and binding, and can’t be overturned or amended for at least three years, he said.

Schiller said he has spoken with council members numerous times without results.

Council President Pete Coccaro said he understands the renters’ concerns, but isn’t convinced rent control is the best plan and wants to learn more about it before taking a formal position.

“I haven’t drawn a conclusion at this time,” he said. “It seems to be a very hot issue. I can see the pros and cons, but some municipalities are shying away from it.”

Councilman Doug Albrecht is one of two council members who rents out a property, but said that isn’t why he feels rent control is bad for Vineland.

“Rent control doesn’t mean sealing rent. It puts a certain percentage, and usually landlords take the max, so they actually end up paying more,” he said. “They don’t know what they’re getting in to.”

It creates a bad situation for everyone, Albrecht warned, because the property owners can’t recoup their investments and they start cutting corners on upkeep and maintenance.

“They say it’s deteriorated now,” he said. “If we put in rent control, you would see how much more deteriorated it would be.”

Karon Adair, a 21-year resident of Vineland Hills, said mobile homes are where people go when they can’t afford another option. Yet, she said, it takes all of her Supplemental Security Income and part of her Social Security to pay her monthly rent.

“It’s making it impossible even to live in a trailer park, even though that’s the cheapest place to live if you own a trailer,” she said.

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